Bavarian Premier Markus Söder has slammed the Left Party's plans to socialize housing in Berlin and spoken of a "red front" in the German capital as a leftist coalition seems likely to take power there (see earlier entry in this blog).
Speaking at a gathering of the youth wing of Germany's coalition alliance (JU) in Bonn, Söder said that "such absurd expropriation fantasies by socialists" had to be stopped.
He called on the government to quickly put in place a planned law against putting private property into public ownership.
Söder, who leads the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party to Chancellor Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), even suggested that payments to Berlin under Germany's financial redistribution scheme be cut if the Left Party plan is put into practice.
"The others [other federal states: Ed.] can have the money. But it is just not right that we even end up paying" for such things, he said.
Allegations of antisemitism in Left Party
Söder also described an "antisemitism agreement" reached by the Left Party, the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD) during exploratory negotiations as apparently "not worth the paper it is written on," saying that the Left Party held stances that were unacceptable.
"Germany must not be identified with such forces in leading positions," he said, saying "firewalls" like that against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were needed against the left as well.
He backed a resolution put forward by the JU that calls for any such leftist coalition in Berlin to be refused access to information from the BfV domestic intelligence agency and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
Along with allegations of antisemitism, the Left Party has faced accusations of having links to clan criminality in the capital, leading some conservatives to suggest it might abuse such information.
Pre-coalition agreements
During exploratory coalition talks, the three left-leaning parties agreed to socialize properties belonging to real-estate companies possessing more than 10,000 apartments.
Under the agreement, a fund of up to €16 billion ($17.98 billion) is to be prepared to pay out compensation for the expropriations.
Before the exploratory talks even began, the three parties reacted to accusations of antisemitism levelled at the Left Party with an agreement in which Israel's right to exist was enshrined as "non-negotiable."
The agreement also foresees penalties for party members who do not act in accordance with this stipulation.
The Left Party emerged as the strongest force from September 20 elections in the city-state of Berlin, with its lead candidate Elif Eralp well set to become the governing mayor.
Police probing an overnight incident in which a fence was breached at the Leipzig/Halle airport say the damage was most likely caused by a vehicle crashing through the barrier.
A police spokesman told the DPA news agency on Sunday that the damaged section was close to three Russian Antonov cargo planes that have been grounded at the airport since 2022 because of EU sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Police said they had searched the site, but didn't find any unauthorized people on the premises, with search measures set to continue throughout the day.
An airport spokesman said air traffic had been unaffected by the police operation, as only one of two available runways had been closed.
The airport made the news in August after an explosives-laden drone was found near Ukrainian cargo planes at the facility.
That incident was blamed by German officials on Russia, which has denied involvement.
Berlin's Left Party, the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD) revealed details of what they hope will be their governing policy, should the coalition be approved by their parties' members.
Among the policies, the possible left-wing Berlin state government could bring around 160,000 apartments under public ownership.
The Left's Elif Eralp, who is seeking to become leader of Berlin, said the compromise would affect five companies, including Germany's largest property company, Vonovia.
It all comes as voters made unaffordable housing a central issue, one that The Left campaigned on, as rent costs in Berlin have spiraled in recent years and public apartments have been in short supply.
Eralp said the three parties also agreed on a "very ambitious new building program" for public housing, where they hope to get 100,000 planning permissions by 2031, which will then lead to 100,000 new affordable flats.
The coalition hopefuls would also work to implement a rent cap for publicly owned apartments.
Volker Beck, the president of the German-Israeli Society, sharply criticized the prospect of a Left/Green/SPD coalition in Berlin, labeling the Left "a bunch of anti-Zionists."
Beck leveled his criticism in an interview with German national broadcaster Deutschlandfunk (DLF).
The interview will be broadcast Sunday but a manuscript has been made available in which Beck tells DLF that anti-Zionism forms the identity of some in Berlin's Left Party, adding "for them, anti-Zionism is their world view, their passion."
"It forms their identity and it is extremely dangerous for society," he said.
Although Beck vouched for Left Party top candidate Elif Eralp's integrity, saying, "she's riding an anti-Zionist wave but she doesn't control it," he said, "she's overwhelmed with the situation."
Finally, Beck blasted an antisemitism statement released by the Left, Greens and SPD this week to quell fears as, "unclear," reminding Greens and SPD that Berlin is "now the most radical state chapter the Left Party has."
The leaders of Berlin's Left, Green and Social Democratic parties wrapped up exploratory talks ahead of official negotiations to form a potential coalition on Saturday, four weeks after state and municipal elections in which the Left was the big winner, taking 25.7% of the vote.
On Saturday, party leaders informed Germany's DPA press agency that the initial talks, which began in earnest on October 8, had been completed and that an agreement had been reached to put the prospect of coalition negotiations up for a vote in their respective parties.
The party votes are scheduled to begin with the Greens on Monday. The SPD has not announced a date, and the Left will vote on October 31.
Should the party bases agree to the proposal, coalition government negotiations could begin in early November.
This week's INSA "Sonntagstrend" poll, commissioned by the tabloid Bild, showed a one percentage point drop for both the far-right AfD and the conservative CDU/CSU, and one percentage point gains for the Left Party and the left-wing populist BSW.
The AfD remains the most popular party in nationwide polling, with 29% favorability.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU is polling second at 18%.
The Greens remained steady at 14%, as did the junior coalition partner SPD at 13%.
The Left, which recently won Berlin's mayoral race but has struggled with its handling of questions of antisemitism, bettered its favorability to 11%; and BSW, which has thrown in its lot with the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, picked up a point to 4%.
The liberal FDP rounded out the field unchanged at 4%, while support for other parties amounted to 7%.
INSA founder and CEO Hermann Binkert said the results of the poll trace a dramatic slide by the country's biggest establishment parties the CDU/CSU and the SPD, noting that their combined 31% meant they had lost "nearly a third of their voters" since the last parliamentary election in 2025.
INSA, which placed the margin of error at plus/minus 2.9 percentage points, conducted its survey among 1,206 registered voters between October 12 and 16.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz was in Bonn Saturday to address an annual national meeting of his Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions' (CDU/CSU) youth wing, the Young Union (Junge Union/JU).
Things were testy the last time Merz addressed the 90,000-member group — when they fought over pension policy— and he will now face them with dwindling approval numbers and growing dissatisfaction over the way he has led Germany and his party.
Merz will greet a youth wing that is self-confident as he himself reels from disastrous election results in recent state and municipal elections.
On Friday, the JU overwhelmingly re-elected Johannes Winkel as their chairman, with the CDU federal parliamentarian taking 94.3% of the vote.
"Our generation still has big plans," said Winkel as he spoke to JU attendees, "and we will be the ones who successfully continue to write the history of the CDU and CSU as a people's party."
On Friday, North Rhine-Westphalia State Premier Hendrik Wüst, a rising star within the party, addressed attendees. On Sunday, Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder will take the stage. Both represent potential replacements for Merz.
Despite the number of prominent party leaders addressing the JU amid talk of Merz's possible political demise, Johannes Winkel vowed: "We're not some applause meter. This isn't a casting show for the chancellorship."
